Elon Musk’s Former Employee Is Building a European Rival to Tesla’s Gigafactory

Friendly Competition Elon Musk isn’t one to shy away from competition. Just last week, he said he hoped SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch would lead to a new space race , and he’s previously encouraged traditional automakers to invest big in electric vehicles (EVs), Tesla’s market niche. Now, a former employee is ready to challenge Musk’s current dominance in another space: battery manufacturing. In June 2014, Tesla broke ground on its Gigafactory battery plant in Sparks, Nevada. When the massive factory is finished, the company expects it to produce 35 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of capacity every year, nearly doubling the entire world’s current battery production. Trump to End the Dollar as We Know It by November 8, 2018? Peter Carlsson, CEO of Northvolt and a former chief purchasing officer for Tesla, wants to build his own Gigafactory-like plant in Europe, and Monday, February 12, the European Union’s investment bank approved a €52.5 million ($62.9 million) loan that will fund the construction of a demonstration line in Västerås, Sweden. If all goes well, Northvolt’s goal is to complete construction on the factory in 2023, at which point it will be able to produce 32 gigawatt-hours of storage per year, making it the […]

Grant Brown is a passionate environmentalist, driven by a need to “leave it better than he found it”. This drive, combined with a capacity to understand power solutions of all types, helps him in his day job as VP Marketing at a start up clean technology company. His goal personally as well as professionally, is to help and inspire others to become a part of the green shift and to leave a positive legacy in the world.